president obama should go to tehran. this is a moment where if we're serious about what president obama, secretary of state kerry and so many other u.s. officials have acknowledged, there is no military solution in iraq war in syria for them we have to make that real. we have to figure out how to do the diplomacy. ais is a moment for the dramatic gesture outside the box to say we need to talk with iran, the other major power, the big regional power in the equation to talk about how to bring these horrific exploding levels of violence in both countries to in end. there are some real possibilities. u.s. and iran are already talking to each other. they are underway in the talks over iran's nuclear program. those talks seemed to be going well, although, slowly as anticipated. it is likely they will not meet the july 20 deadline and will be extended another six months, which was anticipated in crafting the operative agreement now. as those talks go forward, we should see this, and i hope the obama administration would conside

for both washington and tehran, old habits are hard to break. for over three decades, both sides have been taking the other as the enemy, the source of all that is wrong, the source of all problems in the middle east. up doingthat is ended is exacerbating the conflict between the two sides and within the region at large. to the point now where it is blowing up in their face and their having to see if they can unlearn long-standing bad habits in an effort to work together or at least communicate directly so they can figure out how to solve these shared problems when interests overlap. took some wednesday, jay carney in his last news conference as white house spokesperson said the obama administration is open to more talks with iran on stopping the insurgency in iraq. you we are open to engaging the iranians, just as we are engaging other regional players on the threat posed by isil and iraq. as you know, the issue did come up between bill burns and iran on the margins of the p5+1 in vienna on monday. there may be future discussions at lower level

act that given the long history of crisis in the modern middle east from the 1979 hostage crisis in tehran, to the attack on the consulate in benghazi, there is concern that an attack -- that the green zone in iraq might not be secure. it is the responsibility of the local government to provide that security, but there are questions about whether it can and will. >> juan cole, how would you characterize this conflict right now. , it we talk about i.s.i.s. is described as a monolithic force but there are many groups. your assessment. >> i do not think we can't make about what has happened in iraq as a series of military conquests. the islamic state of iraq and syria is a small group of a few thousand fighters, a dozen formations or brigades, and what really happened is they have cells on the ground in the sunni arab cities and they coordinated with other groups, including secular and socialist groups to stage urban uprisings against the, lucky regime -- the al-maliki regime and security forces. this is an expression of popular discontent, not just a series of military advances. >> explained

washingtonas considers working with tehran to shore up their iraqi regime. we will speak with political analyst raed jarrar. then to the world cup in brazil. >> when you see a stadium being built for $500 million and there is no food on the table, there is no health care, and education has gotten worse, than a brief the kind of anger you're seeing right now. >> "brazil's dance with the devil: the world cup the olympics and the fight for democracy." we will go to rio de janeiro to speak with dave zirin. all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the obama administration is reportedly considering the direct talks with iran over ways to resolve the crisis in iraq. where sunni militants have continued to gain new ground. over the weekend, militants from the islamic state of iraq and syria seized the northern town. isis also claim to have massacred 1700 shiites soldiers in tikrit, but the number could not be verified. the united states has become evacuating workers from its embassy in baghd